Latest News

The Largest Blockchain Event In Bali: Over 500 Delegates attended XBlockchain

Share

From making the world’s first blockchain phone call, to the roll-out of eco-friendly tokens, to new public sector uses, to the tokenization of new industries the latest developments in blockchain technology were unveiled to an international audience in Bali this month.

Blockchain leaders, government ministers, entrepreneurs, and technology experts at the XBlockchain Summit 2018 spoke to the regional landscape, shared products and best practices, identified opportunities for collaboration, and addressed challenges facing the industry. Held from October 9-10, the Summit featured the latest in blockchain and cryptocurrency, focusing on innovative use cases and long-term solutions for the global market.

The Largest Blockchain Event In Bali

Adjacent to week-long IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bali, over 500 participants spanning across 20 countries flocked to Bali, Indonesia to join the conversation, with high-profile leaders in the industry and in government headlining. Attendees included Loreta Maskaliovienė, Vice-Minister of Finance, Republic of Lithuania; Dharmendar Sesungkur, Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Republic of Mauritius; David Kao, Head of Singapore, Binance; Meeta Vouk, Director, IBM Singapore Lab; Zac Cheah, CEO of Pundi X; and Stephen Chia, Council Member and Regional Head of SE Asia, NEM.io Foundation, among others.

The two-day Summit highlighted several aspects of blockchain’s future development, such as the accessibility of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain economy, policy frameworks around digital technology, inclusive tech, and blockchain for business and enterprises. Over 50 speakers also delved into creative use cases, especially in the realms of economy, entertainment, gaming, and the environment.

Loreta Maskaliovienė

“When we’re talking about blockchain it’s not [just] about financial technologies; it’s important for education, for health, for the energy sector, for green investment, everywhere we’re talking about reforms, changes and challenges,”

said Loreta Maskaliovienė, the Vice-Minister of Finance, Republic of Lithuania who revealed her hopes for annual budgeting in the Baltic state to be run via blockchain technology.

“In Lithuania we’re analyzing all the different possibilities, for the food industry, for traffic, there’s a lot of possibilities. New technology is coming to daily life for everybody. We shouldn’t close our eyes.”

During the Summit, Pundi X revealed their latest device for harnessing blockchain technology: the blockchain-powered XPhone. Pundi X made the world’s first blockchain phone call on October 10, proving that blockchain can be used for much more than transactions and that it even carries the potential to decentralize data of all kinds. The phone runs on the company’s Function X blockchain, a completely decentralized ecosystem composed of five key components including the Function X blockchain, the Function X OS, Function X IPFS, FXTP transmission protocol and Function X docker.

Binance, PundiX and Co.

Several other startups and companies showcased unique and compelling solutions for some of the biggest issues that the industry has encountered. The Poseidon Foundation rolled out a blockchain solution that will allow users to conserve the earth’s forests through high-quality carbon credits and a utility token named OCEAN. This increases the case for blockchain as a tool for social impact, which has been a major focus for the burgeoning industry.

Head of Binance Singapore David Kao announced that their fiat-to-crypto exchange will launch later this year to provide another gateway for mainstream adoption. In addition, there’s the potential for other fiat-to-crypto exchanges across Southeast Asia to help drive increased blockchain adoption throughout the region.

The issues of adoption were also discussed by Danny Baskara, founder and CEO, Vexanium, which is finding applications for blockchain at the intersection of the silos of traditional customer loyalty and reward programs. Another blockchain leading company, The NEM.io Foundation, revealed its vision for leveraging blockchain in tokenizing new assets and modernizing old industries.

The next edition of XBlockchain Summit will come to Brazil on March 29-30, 2019 and China with a date to be announced shortly.